


i belong with you (you belong with me)

by livmoores



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Background Dimitri/Byleth, F/M, Fluff, Marriage Proposal, Sylvain Jose Gautier Being An Idiot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-08
Updated: 2021-01-08
Packaged: 2021-03-18 17:54:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,173
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28622124
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/livmoores/pseuds/livmoores
Summary: First, Felix helps with the ring.  Then, a chat with Dimitri and Byleth to reassure him.  Now, he's out of excuses.  It's Ingrid, a nice dinner, a walk in her favorite park and a hopeful "yes" to his proposal.[written for the sylvgrid big bang]
Relationships: Ingrid Brandl Galatea/Sylvain Jose Gautier
Comments: 10
Kudos: 36
Collections: Sylvgrid Big Bang





	i belong with you (you belong with me)

**Author's Note:**

> "hey ash you should do another big bang! jk!!! ...... unless?" (clown emoji).
> 
> all jokes aside, this was written as a challenge to myself. one) to do a mini bang while doing a big bang. two) i rarely venture into the world of pure, domestic fluff unless it's for someone's birthday or a gift. i like to live in angst land and when i heard a lot of submissions had been pretty dark so far i was like "lmao k bet fluff LETS GOO" so here we are. i am, once again, a clown.
> 
> [sirane](https://twitter.com/valeskyia) drew this beautiful piece and listen i am still screaming. the detail??? the lights??? HELLO??? y'all i am speechless. it is even better than i could have asked for.
> 
> a huge thank you to rachelle for betain'g this. she got the completely unedited version and managed to turn it into something readable and coherent. also, this was supposed to be posted on sunday, but due to the events in america, i decided to switch it with my big bang chapter, as the content was heavy. we all need a little sylvgrid fluff in our life. :) inspired by [ho hey by the lumineers.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lL9nytKWg8U)

**i. felix - "hey bro wanna come ring shopping with me?"**

The decision to marry Ingrid came naturally, but perhaps a bit suddenly.

Sylvain had been playing sudoku on his phone, completely engrossed with the device. She was playing a timed game against Claude, with INgrid pacing back and forth in their living room. She was trying to negotiate her cable bill (something about being over charged, not that Sylvain paid attention) and was cursing the poor bastard out. It was when she told him to “take care now” did Sylvain look up from his phone.

_I want to marry you._

That was the thought that ran through his mind as he stared at Ingrid. She was staring at her phone, her hands on her hips, wearing one of his shirts (and _only_ his shirt) and looked pissed. It was downright adorable. Sylvain’s heart stopped as he stared at her. The realization that Ingrid was the one hit him _hard_. He texted Felix an SOS immediately, asking him to meet outside a coffee shop the next day.

Felix begrudgingly agreed to go with him to a ring shop. While Sylvain trusted his judgement, he valued his friend’s opinion. He couldn’t trust Dimitri to keep his mouth shut but he could trust Felix. Sylvain knew his secret wouldn’t be longer than a month. He was practically buzzing with excitement as he wandered the ring shop, trying to find _the one_.

It was unexpectedly overwhelming.

As he wandered back and forth between the entrance and the back of the shop, he felt the anxiety kicking in. Every ring he had looked at didn’t jump out at him. One was too gaudy, one was too small, and the pattern continued. He assessed every ring he came across and pulled the ones that captured his attention to Felix. 

“She’s your girlfriend, Sylvain. Shouldn’t you know which one is best for her?” Felix asked, the annoyance on his face as Sylvain held up another ring for his opinion. 

Sylvain scowled. “Fuck off, Felix. I want it to be _perfect_. I know you don’t understand that.” Sylvain’s dig at Felix’s romantic life wasn’t necessary; it was a reflex. “You know Ingrid as well as I do. The last thing I want is for her to hate what I’ve given her and demand something new.”

The more he glanced over the rings, the more he realized that was a real fear he held. Even if he knew in his heart it was _the one_ , what if it wasn’t the one for Ingrid? What if she wanted something different? Sylvain gulped as he looked at the ring he held up to Felix. He could feel his hands becoming sweaty. The ring was so small and held so much weight.

“Not that one.”

Sylvain agreed with his friend. He put the ring back down, thanked the gentlemen, and continued to look at the next row of rings. Another one caught his attention. He motioned for the jeweler to let him look at the ring. He cupped the ring in his hands and stared at it. It was a silver band, one diamond, and was a decent size. It wasn’t too gaudy but would do some damage if Ingrid wanted to punch someone. 

He titled his head to the side and looked at the price tag. The colour drained from his face and his eyes went wide. This was the engagement ring, not the wedding ring. Why were they so expensive? Then again, the more Sylvain thought about it, the more he realized that it was something Ingrid would wear (or at least hold onto) the rest of her life. He gulped and mouthed the price to Felix. 

“Sylvain, you dropped ten thousand dollars on a watch yesterday that you’re not even wearing. You’re concerned about a wedding ring that costs five thousand dollars?” Felix scoffed with a roll of his eyes. He crossed his arms over his chest. “Stop worrying about price. You’re focusing on stupid shit.”

He was right. This was why Sylvain had brought Felix along. He was straight forward and wouldn’t beat around the bush like Dimitri would. He sighed, thanked the jeweler, and walked across the store to look at other rings. 

“That one was probably your best bet for serving as a duel weapon for her, though,” Felix said with a laugh. 

Sylvain chuckled. The thought had crossed his mind. It was something he was actively looking at with Ingrid’s potential rings, purely for the sake of making a joke. The bigger the ring was, the less Ingrid would like it. He knew she wouldn't want all the attention on her ring, despite it being a decent weapon. His eyes drifted over the other sections of rings, crossing them off as he scanned up and down the isles.

He saw it out of the corner of his eye. Slowly, Sylvain moved towards the ring to make sure he hadn’t imagined it. His heart stopped as he looked at it. The ring had two parts to it. The main ring was a reasonably sized diamond with a silver band. The other part, the one that would be added at the wedding (or earlier, if Ingrid wanted that) had two small, teal diamonds. He blinked as he stared at it. 

_That’s it. That’s the one_.

Sylvain motioned for the jeweler to open up the case and let him look at the ring. As soon as the ring was placed into his hands, Sylvain knew he was looking at the right one. He couldn’t explain the sense of euphoria he had as he looked at it. A stupid smile grew on his face as he turned back to Felix. 

“This one, Fe?”

“It’s your girlfriend, Sylvain! Stop asking me!”

Sylvain stared at him. Felix ran a hand through his hair and sighed. Even though Sylvain knew this was _the one_ , he needed the validation that he had made the right choice. 

“ _Felix.”_

“Yeah, Sylvain. I think she’ll love it.” 

Sylvain almost didn’t recognize Felix’s soft tone. The smile grew on his face as he placed the ring on the glass. The jeweler was already talking his ear off about insurance, cleaning, and other things that didn’t matter to Sylvain. The anxiety that was looming over him vanished as he stared at the ring. 

One thing was checked off his list. Now the hard part: planning the proposal.

* * *

**ii. byleth (and dimitri) - "oh fuck help me bro"**

Sylvain had spent two weeks pouring over the proposal. He typed up his plans on his work computer, something Ingrid didn’t access for confidentiality. The goal was to make it perfect and memorable. The problem was that everytime Sylvain thought of an idea, he crossed it out and started over. Nothing was perfect and he wanted it to be perfect for Ingrid. She deserved it.

His next step had been asking around. He thought about asking Dedue but his marriage to Mercedes was six months old. Would he remember the proposal? The proposal had happened over a year ago.. He assumed so but decided not to interrupt their newlywed bliss when he knew of a couple who was engaged, somewhat recently. Dimitri and Byleth were the perfect candidates for questioning. The best part was that it wasn’t weird that Sylvain hung out with them without Ingrid; Dimitri and Sylvain were work partners.

“How did you do it?” Sylvain asked over dinner one night. He stabbed his spaghetti with the fork before twirling it around on his plate. He had barely eaten anything, despite being a fan of Byleth’s cooking. His leg bounced with anxiety. “I need your help. Nothing is working and I’m not sure what to do.”

Dimitri’s eye narrowed as he tried to process what Sylvain was saying. Laughter escaped his lips once he realized what he was trying to ask. Dimitri relaxed into his chair and set his fork down. 

“It’s the most nerve wracking thing, isn’t it? Goddess, I don’t envy you.” Dimitri shuddered at the memory. He took a sip of his wine before continuing. “Honestly? It’s amazing that Byleth didn’t pick up on it. I was a nervous wreck. I spent weeks planning it and wanted to make it perfect.”

“No, I picked up that something was wrong,” Byleth interjected before taking a bite of her spaghetti. She swallowed and shrugged. “I just didn’t think it was that. Honestly, I figured you were having a bad couple of weeks at work.” 

Sylvain blanched. Byleth had missed Dimitri’s obvious crush on her before they started dating, so if she could determine something was wrong, then Ingrid was going to pick up on it. Could he lie and say that it was a case? Working as a defense attorney, it was plausible. She wouldn’t ask questions because the cases remained confidential. Theoretically, he could get away with it. But if Byleth questioned it, that meant he was in trouble when it came to Ingrid. His hand gripped around the fork harder as he continued to stare at his food.

A ringtone brought Sylvain out of his thoughts. He looked up. It was Dimitri’s work tone and he was excusing himself from the table. Byleth looked disappointed but not surprised. Sylvain knew the look well. Ingrid wasn’t particularly fond of him taking work calls at dinner but sometimes it couldn’t be avoided. He turned his attention to Byleth, who wore an amused look on her face. 

“No matter what you do, she’ll think it’s perfect, Sylvain. I wouldn’t agonize over it too much if I was you. If you spend too much time on it, she won’t enjoy it. You know better than I do that Ingrid prefers the simpler things.” 

Sylvain resisted the urge to scoff. The statement about Ingrid liking simpler things was true, but would she think it was perfect? What if it didn’t live up to her standards of a proposal? It wasn’t something they had discussed; Sylvain was walking into this proposal blind. He took another bite of the spaghetti to prolong his response.

“It feels like I’m lying to her, too,” he confessed. Hearing the words out loud made him realize that that was probably what he was most uncomfortable with. He trusted Ingrid with his life and told her everything. How was he supposed to keep a proposal a secret? “I can’t lie to her. I tell her everything.”

Byleth’s eyes narrowed. “You lied to her about your feelings for two years, Sylvain.”

Sylvain held up his hands in defeat. Byleth was correct. When he had realized how he felt about his friend, he pushed it to the side. He spent two years focusing on what ifs and dodging the questions about how he felt about Ingrid, even when she asked him directly. That was also two years ago. Things had changed.

“Tell me your plans, maybe I can help you.”

The redhead launched into plans A through X on operation engagement. It started off simple, a dinner and a walk, and developed into something more ludacris, which involved Sylvain taking Ingrid to Paris and proposing on the Eiffel Tower. The longer he thought about the perfect proposal, the more elaborate and exhausting they got. He was spiraling.

“If you bring her to Paris to propose, she will kill you,” Byleth said with a snort. She took a sip of her wine and leaned back in her chair. “It sounds like you’ve spent a lot of time figuring this out. Sylvain, you know her better than any of us. You’re seriously telling me that there isn’t one proposal idea you’ve come up with that wouldn’t be perfect?”

Sylvain shrugged. “They all seem perfect, even the Paris one. It would be perfect because I was there.” Byleth rolled her eyes and Sylvain laughed. “I’m serious. There is one that I think is perfect. It would be a simple dinner, followed by a walk in the park. They’ve got all the Christmas lights up now and Goddess, you know how much she loves those. There’s a gazebo, so it would be covered.”

“Then why are you questioning it? Sylvain, that’s perfect for her and you know it. Do not spiral, otherwise you will do what Dimitri did for three weeks and get stupidly flustered when she asks what’s wrong.” Byleth sighed. “You have your work excuse to fall back on. Use it when you can, but don’t need to spiral. It’s a good plan, Sylvain. It will be perfect.”

There was validation in hearing Byleth’s approval. He had been leaning towards that plan and had been since the beginning. It was simple but elegant, just like Ingrid herself. The wind howled and caused the window to shake. Sylvain blinked as his attention drifted out the window. The snow was coming down, thick and fluffy, and was starting to obscure the Christmas lights decorations. A smile started to spread across his face as studied the lights. 

“You’re wearing a stupid grin. I take it you’ve got a good plan to go forward with?”

Before Sylvain could respond, Dimitri stepped back into the dining room, apologizing profusely. Sylvain waved him off, the grin never leaving his face. 

“Did I miss anything?”

“Nah. Your fiancé is really good at talking people down.” It was the closet Sylvain would get to admitting that he had started to spiral. “But fret not, my one-eyed friend, I have an idea that I think Ingrid will like. It’ll be perfect, just like her.”

Byleth snorted into her wine glass. Dimitri smiled, electing to ignore the one-eyed friend comment, as he grabbed Byleth’s hand and gave it a squeeze. In the ten minutes since he had taken the phone call, the room had changed from stressed to relaxed. Sylvain reached for the wine bottle, and refilled his glass.

Dimitri held up his wine glass. Byleth followed suit. With a faint flush, Sylvain did the same. Their glasses clinked in celebration. 

“You’ve got this, Sylvain. You do,” Byleth said.

“You’re right, I do. I really do.”

For the first time that night, he was starting to believe it.

* * *

**iii. dimitri - "bro what if she doesn't love me"  
**

Sylvain had spent the past three weeks planning the proposal. Most of it was straight forward; a dinner, a walk in the park, and the gazebo. He had the ring. He had a very rough idea of what he wanted to say (although he acknowledged that that speech would be thrown out the window the moment he opened his mouth). Between him and Dorothea, he was figuring out the best night to get Ingrid away from studying when she wouldn’t be so high strung about being away from her textbooks.

And above all else, he had checked the weather. As cheesy as it was, he wanted it to be snowing. Winter in Fhirdiad was predictable enough that he could rely on the snow happening. He didn’t care if it snowed during the dinner; it had to be snowing when they went for a walk. Sylvain had done the math and figured out the exact time to ensure when it would be best to do a dinner and when it would be best to do a walk. It was the first time in his life he was thankful for Fhirdiad’s consistent snow. 

“How are you feeling?”

Dimitri’s words caught him off guard. Sylvain looked up from his computer, where he had been typing away, towards his friend who was holding Chinese take out boxes. Sylvain’s stomach rumbled as he pushed his glasses up and turned away from his computer. 

“I’m fucking starving. I’ve been staring at this motion all morning. Tell Edelgard I’m coming for her throat. I hate how well thought out her response is.”

Dimitri laughed as he placed the food down on Sylvain’s desk and took a seat. “I’ll be sure to tell her. She was pretty proud of that motion. You do know that we have a very solid case for defense but you will be fighting like hell?” 

“I’m aware.” Sylvain rubbed his temples. “Price of being a defense attorney. But hey, I can say I fought like hell. Enough about work, this is lunch, and I don’t want to talk about how your step-sister is thoroughly fucking me in court.”

Sylvain reached for the Chinese food as Dimitri groaned at the visual image. He smirked and opened up the container, inhaling the smell of Mongolian beef. His mouth was watering. How long had it been since he had eaten? He glanced at the clock on his computer; it was nearing one p.m., and he had last eaten when Ingrid made him breakfast at six a.m. 

“When I asked how you were feeling, that wasn’t what I meant. I meant about your,” Dimitri paused as he looked around for prying ears. He stood up and shut the door to make sure their conversation wouldn’t be overheard. “Your proposal. You’ve got dinner Friday?”

 _And it’s Wednesday_ was what Dimitri wanted to say. Sylvain didn’t need to hear his friend speak it to understand the implication. 

It invaded Sylvain’s every waking moment. The anxiety got worse as the days got closer to Friday. He hadn’t slept last night; he tossed and turned before giving up at three a.m. and moving to the living room. Sylvain knew he was lucky that he could use the guise of an upcoming trial. That was the truth; he did have a trial coming up and Edelgard was giving him a run for his money. But normally in those situations, Sylvain thrived. He was able to focus, rebuttal, and provide an excellent counterpoint.

With his impending engagement, he could do none of those things. It all focused on one question and one question alone. What if Ingrid said no?

Everyone who knew assured him that Ingrid would say yes. Even Dorothea, Ingrid’s best friend, didn’t bat an eye and seemed to be already planning her wedding. If there was one person who was going to give it to him straight, it would be Dorothea. Even _Felix_ seemed sure that Ingrid would say yes and Felix had written off love. The question was starting to gnaw at him. 

“What if she says no, Dimitri? What do I do?”

Sylvain stabbed the beef with his chopsticks. His voice was quieter than intended. If there was a friend who could understand what he was going through, it was Dimitri. Sylvain had pulled Dimitri out of his depressive spiral over the question of what to do if Byleth says no. The thought almost made him chuckle. How many times had Sylvain told himself that it would “never happen to him”? 

Dimitri cleared his throat. “I can assure you she won’t say no.”

The blonde paused. Sylvain knew he was uncomfortable with the question because he had just gone through it a couple of months ago. Sylvain’s gaze shifted towards his friend as he waited for him to speak. 

“But the reality is that there’s three options here. If she says yes, there’s nothing to worry about. This is what I believe, and everyone else, will happen. But if she says no, there are two options that start the same. We talk about why she said no and it depends on her reason for saying no and the question of if we can stay together after that,” Dimitri said.

Dimitri drummed his fingers along the table, lost in thought. Sylvain was listening intently to his friend. His default reaction was to deflect, to make a joke and pretend that this was fine, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. The closer he got to Friday, the more nervous he got. Hiding behind jokes and laughter wouldn’t work. 

“I knew that with Byleth, if she didn’t want to get married, it would be a huge ego blow.” Dimitri paused again before sighing. “I would sulk but I also knew I wasn’t willing to give up our relationship for a difference of opinion regarding marriage.” Dimitri’s face paled as he recounted the memory and internal struggle of what he had gone through. “If she didn’t want to marry _me_ , but was fine with marriage, it would be a different story. That’s the most important question - I don’t want to get married or I don’t want to get married _to you_.”

Sylvain had been racking his mind trying to figure out Ingrid’s stance on marriage. He had assumed it was something she didn’t think about because she was so wrapped up in her career. He also assumed that she was reluctant because of her father. She wanted to make him proud; having a good job and carrying on the family name in veterinary medicine did that. Ingrid couldn’t let anything distract her from that goal. Marriage hindered that progression and living up her family name. 

His leg started to bounce as he tried to recall specific conversations on marriage. Sylvain hadn’t thought much into it. he just assumed. It was what he did best. When he and Ingrid had first started dating, they had a long talk about dating with the intent on it being their last relationship. Ingrid was tired of spending time with people who weren’t going to be her forever. She was exhausted, burnt out, and worried about throwing their friendship down the drain for a relationship. Sylvain felt the same way.

“If Ingrid isn’t ready for marriage, that makes sense. Marriage is a commitment and she’s got a lot on her plate with schooling and practices. But if she doesn’t want to get married to you but can see herself getting married to someone else, then you need to walk away.”

Sylvain sucked in a breath at Dimitri’s sentence. The idea of walking from Ingrid left him physically ill. Ingrid had been his best friend through his entire life; he couldn’t just walk away from her. He took a deep breath as he tried to calm himself down and rationalize his thought process. 

Ingrid didn’t do anything she didn’t want to do. It was one of the many things he admired about her and could count on. If Ingrid wasn’t ready for marriage, she would say so. Sylvain found it unlikely that Ingrid would have stayed in their relationship for this long if she didn’t see them getting married. Or did she think that they would have a common-in-law marriage? Maybe that was it. 

Sylvain pushed his food away, having lost his appetite. Dimitri recognized his friend's distress and apologized. The redhead shrugged him off; there was no need for him to apologize. This was an important question that had been weighing on his mind, whether he wanted to admit to it or not. Unfortunately, there was another question he couldn’t shake.

“What if she doesn’t love me enough to marry me?” Sylvain eventually asked.

The blonde stared at Sylvain, his eye wide, before he busted out laughing. Sylvain gave him a weak smile. Dimitri’s laughter was surprisingly calming. It reaffirmed that his question was stupid.

“You sound like me. And what did you tell me?”

_That girl loves you so much it’s fucking nauseating sometimes._

Before Sylvain could speak, Dimitri continued. “Sylvain, that statement goes to you. Ingrid loves you. With both know that if she didn’t, or had any sense of doubt, she wouldn’t be with you.”

Dimitri was right and Sylvain hated to admit it. He knew, deep down, that his friend was correct. It was the small seeds of doubt that were starting to grow. He pushed his glasses up from the bridge of his nose and leaned back in the chair, the tension releasing from his shoulders. His stomach growled; his appetite was coming back, which was a good sign.

“You really think she’s going to say yes?”

“Yeah Sylvain, I really do.”

But what Dimitri knew, and Sylvain didn’t, was that Ingrid had confided in Byleth about a month ago about her proposing to Sylvain. Dimitri’s smile grew at the thought. His friend was going to be just fine.

* * *

**iv. ingrid - the proposal (aka "bro i love you, marry me")**

Everything had gone well so far.

Sylvain was hanging onto the “so far.” Getting Ingrid out of the house and to a restaurant had been easy. It involved food; Ingrid didn’t question it. She had raised an eyebrow when he mentioned the restaurant, but Sylvian had brushed it off by saying she deserved a nicer meal with how hard she had been working for her exams. The weather was cooperating with a light snowfall. It was cold, but not in the negatives. It was almost too good to be true.

_Hey Sothis, I normally tell you to fuck off, but thanks for getting this right, I guess._

He was going to have to own up to his promise of going to church after this. Even the dinner had gone well. There were no problems with the quality of the food, the restaurant wasn’t overpacked, and they were in and out within an hour and a half. Sylvain wished that it had gone longer. He was stalling and he knew it.

The ring felt heavy in his pocket. He felt constricted and burdened as he suggested they go for a walk after dinner to look at the Christmas lights. His heart was beating in his chest as he watched Ingrid’s face light up at the idea. She was too wrapped up in something else to focus on the anxiety that Sylvain was carrying. If she noticed it, she didn’t comment on it.

Sylvain grabbed her hand and led her towards the park. The snow was still falling and amplified the lights. Ingrid was recounting a story from her earlier time with Annette and Mercedes, but Sylvain was half listening. Time was whizzing past him as Ingrid talked and pointed out the lights.

He had written down what he wanted to say when he got down on one knee. It had been flowy, dramratic, and on brand for him. Sylvain had practiced reciting it, getting it memorized, for hours at work the past week. It had been perfect and he was proud of the end result. Now, with Ingrid’s hands wrapped around his, and that damn bright smile she wore when she looked at the Christmas lights, Sylvain wasn’t sure what to say.

 _Your butt is the bomb. You have a pretty smile. Every time you walk around in one of my shirts and nothing more I have to restraint myself from jumping your bones_.

Each thought was more ridiculous than the last. What had happened to his eloquent words he had rehearsed? 

“You know what I miss?” Sylvain asked suddenly, during a lull in their conversation. They were halfway to the gazebo he was leading her towards and he was stalling for time. 

“What?”

“Beach balls.”

He didn’t have to be looking at Ingrid to know she was judging him, an eyebrow raised as she stared at him. The familiar smirk titled up as he continued. Sylvain was deflecting, he knew it, but it helped put him at ease. Sylvain launched into the story about how Lorenz was complaining about the Fhirdiad winter, which led to a conversation about beach balls and the sand. It was a silly story but served as an excellent distraction from his anxieties.

The conversation shifted as they reached the gazebo. Sylvain pulled his hand away from hers, taking the opportunity to rub his hands together to warm up. The gloves he had picked for today were stylish, not practical. His heart was thudding in his chest as he looked at Ingrid, who had turned around and was pointing at a string of blue lights.

_It’s now or never. Get to it, bud._

With her distracted, Sylvain took off his gloves, pulled the ring out of his pocket and got down on one knee. There was a distinct pop as the box opened, revealing a simple silver band with three stones. Two of them were white and the one in the middle was emerald. He took a shaky breath as he waited for Ingrid to turn around. Sylvain almost chuckled at the thought of how much winter clothing he was wearing. His face was on fire; he could have worn a t-shirt in this temperature and been just fine due to his nerves.

“-that’s what Mercedes was saying.” Ingrid turned around. The smile on her face turned into one of surprise as she stared at Sylvain, her hands going up to her mouth to cover the shock.

“Surprise?” He offered weakly. When Ingrid didn’t respond, Sylvain decided to continue. “I had this whole speech planned. I practiced in front of my computer and now I’m struggling. The reality is that nothing I come up with can adequately describe how much I love you, adore you, cherish you, and like you. I just want to spend the rest of my life making you as happy as you have made me. Will you marry me?”

“Yes!” 

Sylvain blinked. He didn’t get the chance to process the fact that Ingrid had said yes before she was down at his level, pushing him to the ground with a tackle. Sylvain kept the death grip around the ring box as he tried to wrap his free hand around her. She was laughing, tears (happy tears, he reminded himself) streaming down her face. Her smile was contagious and Sylvain knew he would be smiling for the rest of the night.

“Of course I’ll marry you,” Ingrid said before leaning in to kiss him.

The kiss was briefer than Sylvain wanted. He wanted to tilt her head to the side, deepen the kiss, and keep her wrapped in his embrace. Instead, he was pushed to the ground with his girlfriend, no, _fiancee_ , on top of him, clinging onto the ring box. Laughter escaped his lips. His face was already starting to hurt from smiling. Everyone had been right; there was nothing to worry about.

Sylvain kissed her again before readjusting their position. He regrettably pulled away from her and stood up. He offered his hand to Ingrid after brushing the snow off himself. As soon as she was standing, he took her left hand into his.

“I can’t believe you just body slammed me onto the ground,” Sylvain teased as he pulled off her glove. He carefully pulled the ring out of the box and slipped it onto her ring figure. It was a perfect fit. The silver and emerald reflected brightly against the snow.

With the ring placed securely on her finger, Sylvain pulled her into an embrace. He kissed the crown of her head. Ingrid shifted so that she was at his side. She lifted her left hand up, admiring the ring in the natural light. Sylvain pressed another kiss to the side of her head.

“It looks really good on you, Ing. Like it was meant to be there.”

Ingrid’s smile widened. 

“That’s because it was.”

**Author's Note:**

> find me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/livthebraves) where i yell about fire emblem, critical role. also can be found yelling in the sylvgrid discord server.


End file.
